1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to clamping apparatus for clamping the ends of individual game ball strings to the frame of a game ball racket.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known to those skilled in the art, and as disclosed in British Specification No. 23,260 having an application date of Oct. 31, 1908; British Specification No. 887,526 having an application date of Dec. 19, 1958; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,495 issued Nov. 30, 1976; clamping apparatus are known to the prior art for clamping the ends of individual game ball strings to the frame of a game ball racket.
Most pertinent to the present invention are the pair of opposed, tapered wedges disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. patent which wedges are for being received within a tapered passageway or hole formed in the frame of the game ball racket to wedgingly engage the end, or end portion, of the game ball string to clamp the string to the frame of the game ball racket. As is known to those who have attempted to use such prior art wedges, the wedges are quite small in size and are difficult for an operator to handle and align with the string prior to inserting the wedges and string into the tapered hole. The alignment of the wedges with the string requires the use of the fingers of both hands of an operator and upon being aligned, the wedges must then be transferred to the fingers of one hand of the operator to permit the other hand of the operator to be free to hold the string while the wedges are slid along the string and initially inserted into the tapered hole. It has been found that the transfer of the wedges from the fingers of two hands to the fingers of one hand frequently results in a wedge, or wedges, being dropped requiring the wedge-string alignment process to be begun again. This process can be very time consuming and tiring ofttimes to the point of operator frustration. It is believed that the difficulty that operators have encountered with the handling of such wedges has contributed greatly to the lack of any extensive use of such wedges in the stringing of game ball racket strings.
A further problem encountered with such prior art wedges is that for effective wedging action the wedges must be aligned axially with respect to each other and on diametrically opposed sides of the string. If the wedges are not so aligned, effective wedging action is not obtained and the clamped string tends to loosen upon being tensioned causing the string to pull out of the hole. In this event, the stringing action must be repeated and while this is troublesome and costly if it occurs in the factory during manufacture, it is even more troublesome and injurious to racket sales if it occurs after the sale of the racket and during play.
A still further problem associated with such prior art wedges is that, as illustrated in the above-referenced British Specification No. 23,260 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,495, after the wedges are initially inserted into the tapered hole, a separate wedge inserting device is generally required to fully insert the wedges into the tapered hole to wedgingly engage and clamp the string to the racket frame. The use of such wedge inserting devices adds additional manufacturing steps and hence cost to the stringing operation and requires additional operator manipulative skills the use of which can further contribute to operator tiring and frustration.